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Saturday, November 2, 2013

Preschool Story Time - Halloween Fun

What's better than a Red Sox World Series win on Halloween??? A Red Sox World Series win BEFORE Halloween so we can focus on having a GREAT Halloween Story Time! And it was!! My apologies for posting a Halloween Story Time in November, but I had to post a followup to my Flannel Friday of earlier this month, and I had to wait to see how the kids enjoyed it so I could tell you!
When thinking about the 5 practices of Every Child Ready to Read, we talked about vocabulary, and how there are so many opportunities at holiday time to build your child's vocabulary. Halloween words like skeleton, spooky, vampire, and creepy are not generally used in everyday language. By talking about the things a child will see at Halloween, and the emotions of Halloween, you are building vocabulary and getting your child ready to read!

Click, Clack, Boo! By Doreen Cronin

The animals are planning a wild party in the barn for Halloween, but Farmer Brown doesn't like that idea at all! How will the animals get Farmer Brown to come?

Just Say Boo! by Susan Hood

I am SO happy I found this book! I was able to do a few things with it. We talked about the scary things you might encounter on Halloween and how to deal with it. We learned how to recognize and 'read' the word BOO. The kids were able to be a part of the book with the repetitiveness of "what do you say?". My favorite part though, was that it was a fantastic tie in to my FLANNEL BOARD this week!!!

Did you see my Flannel Friday contribution for Halloween? If not, click HERE. I created a new rhyme and original felt pieces to talk about how costumes can be scary, but we always need to remember that costumes are just pretend, especially on Halloween night.

That's a Costume (by Miss Sue)
Over there I see a Ghost, my oh my a scary Ghost!
Mom says "no, its all OK. That's a costume. Take it away...
and you'll see it's your good friend Sheep!
Out on Halloween night!

The rhyme continues with the other costumes and characters. My Flannel Friday Post has a lot more information on this rhyme and the felts.

This went over so well with the families. Many moms thanked me for them and asked for copies of my templates to make at home. The kids caught on with the rhyme and were repeating it with me, or just shouting out the animal names as they were revealed. It was so fun to see something I created be so enjoyed.

After the fingerplay/felts, we did our Halftime dance, and then back to the books!

Creepy Carrots! By Aaron Reynolds

Not a Halloween book per-se, but definitely one of my favorite Halloween reads. If you have not seen it, PICK UP THIS BOOK! I use it for outreach, Kindergarten visits, and my story times. The kids and parents just love it!

Did you see Roving Fiddlehead Kid Lit's Flannel Friday Post about Creepy Carrots?? Here are the ones I made from their templates, but there is a rhyme that goes with it too! I ran out of time during both story times this week, but I was glad to make a set for us to use whenever we pull out Creepy Carrots.

The Spooky Wheels on the Bus by Elizabeth Mills

Any book that we can sing is going to find its way into my story time at some point! The kids loved singing along with this book and made up their own hand motions to go with it! Fun!

Pumpkin Trouble by Jan Thomas

I love Jan Thomas's books! This is the latest one and great for fall. Its very short, and really takes some delivery skills, but everyone in the room was silently anticipating what will happen. Its always awesome to see an entire room rapt with a book, and always fun for a story teller to see everyone smiling with anticipation.

And our craft this week! I used wax paper to draw the candy corn outline (I used a coloring page as a template). The kids put tissue paper squares in each of the three sections. When the glue dries, they carefully cut out the candy corn so the outline of the candy stays defined. Then they can put their candy corn in the window to catch the light! It is an easy craft and the kids loved working on it. It also helps fine motor skills.

YAY Halloween! The kids loved being in costume, they loved seeing Miss Sue as The Cat in the Hat, and everyone had a great time as this year's "Boo To You" Story Time! Onward to Thanksgiving!